life/art/politics

Month: August 2014

Of all the arguments against Scottish Independence, the appeal to solidarity is definitely the one that has the most potential to move me. It’s been a staple of anti-independence articles from the UK left since long before the referendum date was set, and it’s been heard in the mainstream press with increasingfrequency as that date approaches.

This morning a close, NO-voting friend of mine raised the question with me directly, and I find myself freshly troubled by the suggestion that to vote YES is to skip out on the people in the rest of the UK who share my hopes for the future:

I hope Ghostface keeps making music with live bands, because this collaboration with hip-hop/punk/jazz trio BadBadNotGood is like a signpost pointing to a better record yet to come, one where he’s allowed to follow his cracked muse down whatever back alleys it might take him, with a band fit to follow in hot pursuit.

Last year’s Twelve Reasons to Die album was lush as hell itself, and it had an unshakeable fatalistic logic with which to lead you there – when the album finishes and rolls straight into its instrumental mix, it feels like the natural conclusion to this story of ridiculous bloodshed, like a walk around the movie set except that it’s empty and you suspect someone’s had to bury a lot of bodies to get it that way.

This might come across like a slightly crap attempt at providing balance – probably because that’s exactly what it is! – but don’t worry, if you’re not yet sick of my own personal opinions on this topic, you soon will be!

I’ve been holding off on writing post like this for a while now because I thought it was better not to say anything at all than to say something stupid, but I’m speaking up now for two reasons:

(1) Because it currently seems possible that Scotland, as a nation, might vote for independence,

and…

(2) Because it still doesn’t seem likely.

If I didn’t think there was any chance of a YES vote there’d be no reason to climb up on my soapbox, but since it seems as though it won’t happen the next few weeks are my last chance to say why I think it should. You are of course welcome to breeze by me as quickly as you would any other Buchanan Street barker but if you fancy hearing me out, here we go!